this is "nightly business report" with susie gharib and tom hudson. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt >> tom: good evening and thanks for joining us. ben bernanke said today the federal reserve is ready to take action if high oil prices threaten the economy. susie, the fed chief's comments came on a day when oil prices gushed higher. >> susie: tom, as bernanke was testifying on capitol hill in washington, oil futures trading here in new york surged to just below the $100 level. april crude rose $2.66 a barrel, or more than 2.5%. and those rising oil prices triggered a stock sell-off on wall street-- the dow fell 168 points, the nasdaq lost 44, and the s&p 500 off almost 22. >> tom: against that market backdrop, bernanke explained the fed's policy to keep the economy growing. darren gersh reports. >> reporter: the new normal for federal reserve chairman ben bernanke goes something like this: republicans in congr